Spectrum

4.3: Orange

"So, I heard you pleaded guilty?" The female sitting across from autumn asked, a smirk in her voice and on her face. "Must be one hard-assed criminal to do that." The girl laughed at her words, looking down at the excitement-painted jumpsuit that they had forced her to change into, leaving her jeans and tee-shirt to sit in a holding-box until her time in this hellhole was over. 

The girl sitting next to Autumn had told her that her name was Rose, and that she had worked in an underground fighting ring. She had a special tattoo on her collarbone to match the name, a dark black silhouette of the flower she had been named after. She had been one of the top fighters in the entire arena, and had only had one more opponent to beat before she would be crowned the champion of the entire ring - one more person to leave bloody and bruised before she could achieve total fame. 

However, the night before the big match, she had gone out drinking with a handful of friends, just to celebrate before the win that she knew would be ahead. This was a bad idea, come to find out - Rose was even more violent when she was drunk, and when the bartender told her she'd had one too many, she had flipped out and put the scared man in the hospital with cracked ribs and a broken nose. 

As for Rose, all she had done was break a nail. 

Autumn found this all very impressive, and when it was her turn to share the tales of woe that landed her in the cement block that surrounded the both of them, she started out by telling her newfound cellmate that she had gone by the name Burning Star. At this, the other girl's eyes lit up with recognition, and a wide grin crossed her face like ink on a canvas, which made Autumn slightly proud - that her symbol was that widely known, that it had even reached down into the deepest recesses of the Fighting Rings. 

"No way," the teen had said, her eyes wide; "Not one of the best spray-artists in this entire damned city. Not the Burning Star." A laugh leapt from her throat again at Rose's words. 

"Yeah, I guess that's me. But I'm not responsible for my skills - a…" The word 'guardian' stuck in her throat; to her, thats what Todd was, "friend of mine showed me how. He's the best Sprayer I have ever known."

"Hm. Sounds fascinating; I think I'd like to meet this guy sometime. You don't suppose he'll drop by and visit?" It was a question that Autumn and never considered. Would Todd come and visit, or was he locked up just like her? She wouldn't figure that he would be, for as far as she knew he hadn't done any large crimes, just the occasional Spray. 

"He might, but he also might be in the same position as us - behind bars." 

-

"Autumn Bloode, you are allowed to see your visitor now." The scruffy guard ordered, awakening the girl from her slumber - she and Rose had chatted like old friends until they had both fallen asleep, but her cellmate had not yet awoken.  She sat up and stretched, giving the guard a sarcastic roll of the eyes. 

"Great. Who is it, my lawyer? Or am I even allowed one?" Derision dripped out of every corner of her voice, sass that she knew could get her in some serious trouble. 

"A man named Todd Norris, actually. As to whether or not he is your lawyer is none of my business, as long as you behave." The door to her cell opened, and she was led out of the small confined space down the hall and into a visiting room. It was a simple space, consisting of a line of desks facing glass, with phones sitting on their cement surfaces, presumably used to communicate with those on the other side.